Minimum employment age upped from 14 to 16

• Four labour laws to be amended to increase age in keeping with compulsory schooling till 16 years
• Bills to be gazetted and presented to Parliament shortly

Cabinet this week approved a proposal to present four labour law amendments to the Parliament, to increase the minimum age for employing children from 14 to 16 years.

The Cabinet proposal by Minister of Labour Nimal Siripala de Silva seeks to amend the labour laws to increase the minimum age of engagement in service to 16 years in terms of the legal provisions, including the compulsory age of schooling as 16 years.

The laws to be amended are the Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act, Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act (No. 47 of 1956); Sect 9, Minimum Wages (Indian Labourers) Ordinance, and the Factories Ordinance No. 45 of 1942.

The orders published in the Gazette Extraordinary of the Government No. 11573 dated 31 October 1958, formulated under the provisions of the Employees Provident Fund No. 15 of 1958, too, will be amended.

Cabinet gave approval to present the draft bills to the Parliament after publishing in the Government Gazette as well as for tabling the orders declared as per the provisions of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) No.15 of 1958 in the Parliament.